In many instances, having advance notice of weather information while on a road trip would be helpful. For example, the weather conditions during a trip may change quickly, thereby exposing a vehicle operator (e.g., motorcycle rider) to dangerous weather conditions (e.g., rain, thunder, hail, snow, etc.) while driving the vehicle (e.g., riding a bicycle, motorcycle, etc.). This is specially the case for vehicles in which the operator is exposed to the elements, such as bicycles, motorcycles, gliders, boats, etc. While many navigation devices, such as global positioning systems, have been disclosed in the prior art, these fail to provide specific weather information that may assist a vehicle operator in deciding which paths to take. In fact, many such prior art devices rely on receiving weather information from an external source to provide weather information. In many locations, such as mountains and deserts for example, such external source may be out of reach (e.g., signal and/or wireless service are not available).
Additionally, many prior art navigation devices are configured for manual use by an operator. However, vehicle operators such as motorcycle riders cannot use their hands to operate a navigation device while riding.
Moreover, in order to integrate an after-market navigation device into a vehicle, it is often necessary to provide either an external power source or batteries. Coupling the navigation device to the vehicle power source is undesirable since it requires a wire to be run to the vehicle's electrical circuit, thereby making installation cumbersome. In other instance, such as when using bicycles and gliders, a vehicle may not have a power source of its own. Additionally, using solely batteries as the power source for the navigation device makes the navigation device useless when the batteries die and replacement batteries are not readily available.
Consequently, a navigation device is needed that is easy to install and operate while providing a vehicle operator with pertinent weather forecast and direction information.